David Alan Grier

If you look carefully at the development of computing, you can see clear generational cycles. These cycles are marked by a sharp change of technology and a group of young leaders taking advantage of those changes. There is clearly a period of 20 years in which these leaders rise to prominence in the field before passing command to the next generation. We can point to the mainframe generation of the Fifties, the Software/PC Generation of the 70s, the Internet/Mobile Generation of the 90s. We are clearly nearing the end of the 90s cycle and need to start asking what follows and who will be the next generation. This talk considers the extent to which data will be the next driving technology and the extent to which we are already shifting towards the data generation of leaders.

Biography:

David Alan Grier has spent much of the past decade helping the IEEE Computer Society develop new electronic products, editing its periodicals and writing for its members. He has served as editor in chief of IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, as chair of the Magazine Operations Committee, and as an editorial board member of Computer.

Outside the Society, he works as an associate professor of science and technology policy at George Washington University in Washington, DC with a particular interest in policy regarding digital technology and professional societies. There, Grier has worked as a university administrator for the past 20 years and has demonstrated a capacity for organizational management. He served as leader of the undergraduate computer systems degree, director of the University Honors Program, assistant dean of engineering, and associate dean of International Affairs.

Finally, Grier has worked extensively within the computer industry. He started as a programmer and systems designer for the old Burroughs Corporation. He has also worked extensively as a consultant in the field. A more detailed biography can be found at www.dagrier.net.